Video games about war, video games about football

I've always thought it somewhat ironic that millions of Americans play video games simulating combat while other Americans actually engage in combat, namely in Iraq. I don't bring this up to discuss societal conditioning - I'm not thinking of the 13-year-olds who are arguabley being trained "by society" to kill for the government. No, I find the irony in the 17-to-32-year-olds. Many of the video-game players are in the same age bracket as the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines whose actions they imitate.

And this isn't bitterness, in a "Where were you, Dick Cheney?" sort of way. One might be tempted to make such an argument, but the military is having success with re-enlistments and decent success with new enlistments. It's not like the Second World War, where everyone - including athletes - joins up. It's a smaller military these days.

Another layer to the issue appeared when I recently read about Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer's hobby: playing paintball in the woods with other Bengals. These symbols of machismo - the modern-day gladiators - have a fun time pretending they are at war. Maybe they play the Navy SEAL-based video game "Rainbow Six" when it's too rainy for paintball.

Meanwhile, another Cincinnati reservist unit ships out for Iraq this week.

Again, one could get bitter - you know, "Why don't the Bengals enlist?" (A big reason why they shouldn't is for national morale. Cincinntians are currently foaming at the collective mouth because the Bengals don't suck this year.)

But there's another noteworthy phenomenon.

In Iraq today, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines playing video games themselves. Maybe the SEALs play "Rainbow Six." I know lots of people play first-person shooter games. When I was in the Marines, the popular game was "Goldeneye 007." My favorite level was the Frigate, where your character runs around a ship, shooting folks.

But here comes Carson Palmer again. Many members of the military play football-based games such as "Madden." There are real-life warriors out there today playing video games that simultate being Carson Palmer. That, perhaps, is the real irony. Carson pretends to be them, they pretend to be Carson.

So ultimately, the lesson is that people just like to simulate a life other than their own. A life more exciting, maybe, or just exciting in a different way. And if you've got a job where people simulate you, that's pretty awesome. If you don't appreciate it now, perhaps you will later in life.